Hagerstown Youth Advisory Council

Apply Today - Applications Due April 30, 2019!

About the Hagerstown Youth Advisory Council

The Hagerstown Youth Advisory Council was established by the Hagerstown Mayor and City Council to give Hagerstown youth the opportunity to provide feedback and recommendations regarding community policies and programs that affect their future and to take a leadership role in creating meaningful change. Members of the Youth Advisory Council will have the opportunity to raise their voices and share their experiences with local dignitaries, agencies, and other youth!

Councilmembers will be expected to:

Be active and passionate representatives of Hagerstown youth;

Identify and discuss issues facing youth in Hagerstown;

Work with other councilmembers to create strategies that address these issues;

Develop leadership skills;

Meet other Hagerstown youth; and

Help build their community!

Students will also have the opportunity to earn SSL hours for their work on the council!

Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible to serve on the Hagerstown Youth Advisory Council youth must meet the below qualifications:

Be a resident of the City of Hagerstown or attend a public or private high school or homeschool located in the City of Hagerstown;

Be currently enrolled in either an accredited regional public or private high school or homeschool;

Be entering the ninth, tenth, eleventh or twelfth grade at the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year.

Youth that are between the ages of 18 to 21 are also welcome to apply to serve as one of three non-voting members of the advisory council. Anyone who is applying for these positions must hold a high school diploma or an equivalency and reside within the corporate boundaries of the City of Hagerstown.

How to Apply

Anyone interested in serving on the Hagerstown Youth Advisory Council is encouraged to complete the application form. Councilmembers will serve a two-year term unless otherwise indicated.

Councilmembers will be appointed by the Hagerstown Mayor and City Council.

Applications can be completed electronically here or submitted by one of the following methods:

Youth also have the opportunity to submit their application in the form of a video submission. All questions from the application form must be answered in this video, but the content is otherwise at the youth's discretion. Interested video applications will need to complete the application form found here in addition to their video submission. Any youth interested in a video submission are encouraged to contact city staff to coordinate the submission process via a dropbox link.

Once all applications have been received and processed, select youth will be asked to participate in small group interview sessions. It is anticipated that youth selected for interviews will be notified electronically.

All applications will be reviewed with an application scoring rubric that can be found here.

Attendance Requirement

The selected councilmembers on the Hagerstown Youth Advisory Council will be expected to attend at least 75% of the regular meetings. The meeting dates and frequency will be determined by the entering cohort of youth. Any member who does not attend the required number of meetings may be removed from the Council.

The City of Hagerstown understands that youth in Hagerstown often participate in a wide variety of extracurricular activities. If you are interested in applying for this program but are unsure that you will be able to attend the required amount of meetings please contact City Staff who will work with you to accommodate any potential scheduling conflicts.

Next Steps

The application cycle for the inaugural Hagerstown Youth Advisory Council begins on Friday, March 1, 2019 and ends on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. All applicants should expect to receive notification of a submitted application within two weeks of submission.

All applications will be reviewed by a small panel comprised of city staff and community partners in early May. Applicants should expect to hear the final status of their application by either the end of May or early June. A one-day orientation session will be scheduled for selected applicants during the summer months and the first meeting of the inaugural council will occur in September 2019.

Questions?

Any questions regarding the application or the Youth Advisory Council in general can be forwarded to City Staff at the Department of Community and Economic Development at either HYACadmin@hagerstownmd.org or 301-739-8577 ext. 820.